Media Outcomes in the Abortion Debate: The Influence of Organization, Government Action, Allies and Opponents, 1980-2000.

This article contributes to a more systematic understanding of media coverage outcomes by examining how organizational characteristics, government action, and allies and opponents interact and combine to account for differences in media coverage in mainstream, liberal, and conservative outlets over time. Using Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) to assess archival data collected on four social movement organizations mobilizing on the abortion issue during the 1980 to 2000 time period, the study highlights the importance of organizational characteristics to mainstream media coverage and calls attention to other organizational factors that affect outcomes in liberal and conservative outlets. Additionally, the study emphasizes the differential role that government action and elite allies and opponents play in media outcomes. The analysis suggests that the pathways to media coverage in liberal and conservative outlets are more complex and require a more nuanced understanding of media coverage outcomes as well as the role of organizational characteristics in these outcomes. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]